Mencken's America / H.L. Mencken ; edited by S.T. Joshi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956

Contributor:

Joshi, S. T., 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National characteristics, American.

United States--Civilization--1865-1918.

United States.

Civilization.

United States--Civilization--1918-1945.

United States--Politics and government--1901-1953.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xx, 244 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, [2004]

Summary:

Long famous as a political, social, and cultural gadfly, journalist and essayist H. L. Mencken was unafraid to speak his mind on controversial topics and to express his views in a deliberately provocative manner. Mencken was prolific; much of his best work lies buried in the newspapers and magazines in which it originally appeared. Mencken's America is a sampling of this uncollected work, arranged to present the wide-ranging treatise on American culture that Mencken himself never wrote. The core of the book is a series of six articles on "The American" published in the Smart Set in 1913 and 1914. Never before reprinted, they embody the essence of Mencken's views on the deficiencies of his countrymen. Bracing, infuriating, and pungent, H. L. Mencken's writings retain their relevance even after the passage of nearly a hundred years, cogently discussing issues with which Americans of the twenty-first century are still wrestling. Sagaciously edited by S. T. Joshi, one of the country's foremost Mencken scholars, Mencken's America is a superb example of America's turning the looking glass on itself.

Contents:

Prologue: On Living in the United States 1

1. The American: A Treatise 7

The American 7

The American: His Morals 17

The American: His Language 28

The American: His Ideas of Beauty 39

The American: His Freedom 49

The American: His New Puritanism 59

2. The American Landscape 71

Good Old Baltimore 71

Maryland: Apex of Normalcy 80

The City of Seven Sundays 86

Along the Potomac 96

San Francisco: A Memory 100

San Francisco 103

New York 106

3. American Politics, Morality, and Religion 113

Meditation in E Minor 113

What Ails the Republic 116

The American Politician 119

Religion in America 129

1. Evangelical Pastors 129

2. Church and State 133

3. The American Religion 136

The Burden of Credulity 140

Notes on Negro Strategy 143

4. American Art, Literature, and Culture 147

Puritanism as a Literary Force 147

The American Tradition 169

The Low-Down on Hollywood 174

Palmy Days for Authors 180

Epilogue: Testament 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-234) and index.

ISBN:

082141531X

0821415328

OCLC:

52877500